HAMDEN, Conn. — Since 1975-76, the Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey program has been an integral part of the Quinnipiac and greater Hamden community.
 
Now, a Division I program with an NCAA Division I National Championship, Stanley Cup Champion alumnus and national recognition across the hockey landscape, the program will be celebrating 50 years as a varsity program during the upcoming 2025-26 campaign that kicks off on Oct. 3.
 
The campaign will feature exclusive giveaways, social media campaigns and game promotions tailored to every era of the Bobcat program, engaging alumni and fans of all ages to celebrate the program's golden anniversary.
 
"Our program and university have experienced a tremendous amount of growth in the last 50 years," head coach Rand Pecknold said. "From our transition to Division I to the 2023 National Championship, there is so much to look back on and celebrate and I cannot wait to do that all season with our alumni and fans as we chase more championships."
 
The year begins with the program's annual alumni game, held this year on August 16, where former men's ice hockey student-athletes and their families come back to re-join their fellow Bobcats on the M&T Bank Arena ice. To register and for more information, click here.
 
The home campaign kicks off on Oct. 17 during Bobcat Weekend, where Quinnipiac welcomes 2025 Hockey East Champion Maine to The Bank for a high-profile, two-game home stint. Fans in attendance will receive a special edition 50^th Anniversary season T-Shirt.
 
Throughout the season, Quinnipiac will welcome back the Eras of Bobcat Hockey, creating unique nights for each decade's alumni to take in a game at M&T Bank Arena and reminisce with their former teammates. That schedule will be finalized in the coming weeks and communicated throughout Quinnipiac social media channels (QU_MIH) and at gobobcats.com.
 
A LOOK BACK
 
The Early Years
Beginning as a club program in 1967, the team entered the 1970s as another club on the Quinnipiac College Campus. It wasn't until Jim Kennedy took the reigns of the first Bobcat varsity hockey program during the 1975-76 seasons, skating the team to an 8-5 record in its first year and winning the program's varsity debut, a 7-5 victory over Central Connecticut. Kennedy would lead the team for three seasons before turning the keys over to Ralph O'Connor.
 
Into the 80s
Joining the ECAC as a Division III program, the Bobcats turned in their first winning season since becoming a program in the 1984-85 campaign, winning 11 of its first 12 games en route to a 16-9 record under head coach Jim Armstrong. That would be the first of five consecutive winning years through the 1988-89 campaign. The stretch featured three ECAC Tournament appearances, including a trip to the finals during the 1986-87 campaign and a semifinal appearance in 1987-88.
 
The Pecknold Era Begins
After the 1993-94 season, then-Athletic Director Burt Kahn turned the keys over to Rand Pecknold on May 5, 1994 to lead the Bobcats into the future. After a tough start to his inaugural campaign behind the bench, the Bobcats ended the season strong, going 5-3 in a stretch that featured an overtime victory over Sacred Heart. After an 11-12-4 record in the 1995-96 season, the Bobcats would begin a stretch of 21 consecutive years without a losing season with Pecknold at the helm.
 
Into Division I
The Bobcats joined the MAAC in the 1998-99 season and immediately saw success, winning the league's regular season championship in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 before breaking through in the 2001-02 season, winning the MAAC Tournament with a 6-4 victory over Mercyhurst to go to the program's first NCAA Division I Tournament. They would make three more conference championship appearances as a member of the league before moving to ECAC Hockey in the 2005-06 season.
 
The Breakthrough Seasons
Aligned with some of the world's best overall universities, the Bobcats found themselves in elite company both on and off the ice after joining the league. They made the finals of the conference tournament in 2006-07, sweeping Cornell in the league quarterfinals before falling to Clarkson in the final. After five years of bowing out in the ECAC Quarterfinals, the team's breakthrough came in 2012-13. Along with its first 30-win year as a program, the team went to its first Frozen Four and a berth in the National Championship game.
 
Sustained Success
After breaking into the national landscape, the Bobcats never left, making three more NCAA Tournaments in the next three years, never winning fewer than 23 games in those seasons. The final year of that stretch, 2015-16, featured another trip to the Frozen Four, where the Bobcats knocked off perennial power Boston College before falling to North Dakota in the national title game. Every non-shortened year since then besides one has featured at least 20 wins and the program has made 10 NCAA Tournaments in its last 12 tries.
 
The Natty
The program build came to a peak during the 2022-23 campaign, when Jacob Quillan scored 10 seconds into overtime to give the Bobcats their first NCAA Division I National Championship, completing a comeback over Minnesota to win 3-2 and give Pecknold and Quinnipiac what they had been building towards since the first varsity year. The campaign featured a program-record 34 wins, including the most wins by an ECAC Hockey team in its current format of 12 teams, going 20-2 in the league. The Bobcats went undefeated at home that season, won the Belpot trophy in Northern Ireland and outscored its NCAA Tournament opponents 17-5 en route to the trophy.